


California Dreamin' (All The Leaves Are Gone)

by joidianne4eva



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 03:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3962041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I need you to drive while I sleep. It’s not just for you,” Max explained and Nux ducked his head, yanking his fingers away from the thin tube that connected him to Max. </p>
<p>“I could kill you…while you slept.”</p>
<p>It was a whisper, cold and deadly especially when Max considered that Nux probably wouldn’t bat an eye before slitting his throat. After all the War Boy had been content to bleed him dry before.</p>
<p>“Would I go to Valhalla then?” Max taunted and Nux gritted his teeth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	California Dreamin' (All The Leaves Are Gone)

Max didn’t know why he was surprised that Nux was alive.

He wasn’t exactly surprised because the War Boy had shown his tenacity when it came to life but Max certainly hadn’t expected it so he hadn’t planned for it, which was why he was here right now, trying to fix the wreckage of his car and get as much gas as he could while hooked up to the unconscious man.

Nux’s body took to the blood easier than Furiosa’s had and Max wasn’t sure if that was because Nux was still so young or because his body was so used to it.

The thought made Max glance up at the still body of his companion.

He wasn’t sure how old Nux actually was but from what the wives had implied he was barely a man. Max had seen it in the innocent ways that Nux had observed the world around him, despite the bloodlust that seemed to thrum through his veins.

Even the kiss between him and the redheaded one had seemed more like a repetition of an action seen than an actual advance on Nux’s part and Max wondered if the boy had ever seen a real woman before…other than Furiousa that was.

It wouldn’t exactly have surprised Max given the way that Immortan Joe ran his citadel. After all if the War Boys didn’t know what sex was, what love was, they wouldn’t rise up against him and fight for their right to have what he’d coveted.

The thought made Max’s eyes drop back to his engine just as small fingers curled around his own, a ghost of a sensation, there and gone before it could truly take root.

They’d all lost something when the world went to shit, maybe the best thing that Immortan Joe had ever done for the boys was to hide exactly what they’d lost before they knew it.

He’d left the citadel behind two days ago and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that scavengers wouldn’t find the wreckage soon which meant he had to focus on fixing his car and moving but that also meant waking Nux and finding out what he was going to do.

A part of him had wanted to leave Nux there, in the puddle of blood and oil but the War Boy had saved his life more than once and Max owed him.

At least the damn things on his shoulder had ruptured.

He’d heard Nux talking to them and the last thing he needed was two crazy people in one car…he only had space for one of them.

Nux twisted on the seat, groaning in his sleep and tugging at the line that connected them. Max stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

As soon as he got the engine running he was heading towards the salt. He had a helluva lot more than 160 days’ worth of gas and he didn’t have a damn thing holding him back. Maybe Furiousa had been right, maybe there was something beyond the salt, even if there wasn’t Max didn’t have anything to go back to.

If Nux had a problem with that, he could take the bike and head the other way.

*O*

“Where are we?”

Max didn’t start at the voice but that was mostly because he was too busy blocking out the other voices in his head.

“Where does it look like?” he asked, flickering a glance at Nux as the boy untangled himself, stretching out his long legs as best he could in the cramped space.

“Not the citadel,” Nux muttered, reaching for the makeshift bandage that Max had wrapped around his shoulder. He flinched when his fingers came in contact with the cloth and Max didn’t know if it was from pain or loss.

Nux had talked to the things on his shoulder a bit too much for someone who should’ve hated what they represented.

“There’s a bike attached to the roof if you want to head back,” Max offered up and Nux frowned like the words were strange to him before he turned his head away, glancing out the window. “Your redhead is back there.”

Nux shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “She wasn’t _my_ anything,” he paused and glanced at Max, a small smile tugging at his cracked lips. “She was very shiny though,” he admitted and Max snorted.

The War Boy was a child trapped in a man’s body with nothing but instincts to go on. He could look and admire the merchandise but anything else was beyond him.

“Where are we going?” Nux asked after a long moment of silence and Max glanced at him.

“I’m heading across the salt,” he responded blandly and Nux nodded his head.

“Then that’s where I’m going too. Maybe we’ll find the gates there,” he whispered and Max knew he going to regret asking but he had to.

“The gates to where?”

Nux beamed at him, all innocence and anticipation. “The gates to Valhalla.”

*O*

Nux was silent but Max was sure that the War Boy wasn’t sleeping despite his closed eyes…the way that he flinched every time the car jerked said as much and Max wasn’t surprised because while he’d treated the wounds he could see, Nux was probably as battered as he felt.

“I live, I die, I live again,” Nux whispered to himself, a mantra that grated on Max’s nerves now as much as it had the first time he’d heard it.

“He was lying to you…in case you didn’t catch that,” he pointed out and Nux seemed to curl in on himself as he shook his head.

“No, it’s only way to get to Valhalla. You must die in a glorious battle and then you’ll be taken to the gates,” he muttered.

Max eyed the other man for a second, taking in the tension in Nux’s shoulders and the clenched fingers.

“So your friend’s in Valhalla then, the one who tried to kill us?” he queried and Nux nodded as he pressed his clenched fists against his temples.

“He died in glorious battle. In fire and blood, Valhalla is his gift,” he responded.

“And what about the wife? The one that fell?” Max demanded.

For a moment the car was silent except for the hum of the engine.

“She would…she died in battle as well,” Nux finally offered up but Max could hear the thread of uncertainty in his voice. “It was her choice, to run, she chose. They all chose to fight and leave so she’d…”

Max didn’t let him finish the thought, “What about her baby? Did it choose?”

Nux shook his head wildly, “I live, I die, I live again,” he muttered and Max snorted.

“Tell yourself that as many times as you want…it doesn’t make it any truer than it was a second ago.”

*O*

Nux was silent as Max rummaged through the food that he’d scavenged. He didn’t make a move towards the package that Max dropped onto his lap and he didn’t flinch when Max hooked them up again.

There was nothing to see now, nothing but wasteland…the salt. But not even the salt was empty. Spectres flitted across the plains, their dead eyes watching Max and he did his best to ignore them…like he always did.

“’M not empty,” Nux muttered, glowering at the package of food as his fingers came up to play with the line, almost absentmindedly.

“I need you to drive while I sleep. It’s not just for you,” Max explained and Nux ducked his head, yanking his fingers away from the thin tube that connected him to Max.

“I could kill you…while you slept.”

It was a whisper, cold and deadly especially when Max considered that Nux probably wouldn’t bat an eye before slitting his throat. After all the War Boy had been content to bleed him dry before.

“Would I go to Valhalla then?” Max taunted and Nux gritted his teeth.

“It’s not a joke,” he retorted.

“No, it’s a lie,” Max corrected. “One you should think about letting go of. There’s enough crap trying to kill us out here, you don’t need to add yourself to the list.”

“What if I don’t want to let go?” Nux inquired softly and this time Max turned and met the other man’s eyes.

“Then that bike’s still waiting for you,” he responded, keeping his tone calm. “If you want to go out in a blaze of glory, do it but you’re not taking me with you.”

Nux didn’t answer; instead he turned the package over in his hands, staring at it like it had the answers to all his questions.

“I don’t want to go back,” he confessed and Max could hear the fear in his tone, almost as if he expected Max to object to his words.

“What do you want then?” Max inquired.

Nux pursed his lips and stared out at the glimmering plains.

“I want to see the green place,” he offered up, his voice breathy, giving it a child-like quality that made it eerie when coupled with the child staring at Max from just a few feet away.

“There might not be one,” Max told him but Nux just shrugged, using his nails to tug the package open before breaking off a piece of something that looked a lot like bread.

“I want to cross the salt and see,” he replied and Max turned his head away to hide the smile tugging at his lips.

It wasn’t perfect but it was a start.


End file.
